South West mum blog

Tag Archives: Baby Centre

As expectant mothers, we’ve all pored over Baby Centre (actually ‘Center’ usually) articles on products you absolutely MUST have for your newborn. And for some reason both times I’ve felt like everything I need has to be bought BEFORE the baby arrives – as if I’ll be house-bound for weeks and months after (I wasn’t) and as if Amazon isn’t handily there for some night feed purchasing (it certainly was).

So you’ve got the Moses basket/fancy sleeping cushion/co-sleeper, a mountain of coloured muslins and enough newborn nappies to fill your shiny new cot. But what about the real essentials that no one talks about? The things that are going to keep you sane and functioning for the first few months? Here are what I’d call my newborn (in)essentials:

Eye cream – you might not be able to fake sleep but you might want to help your eyes while you adjust to being up at odd times and falling asleep in the middle of Homes Under the Hammer.

Your local coffee shop loyalty card – OK you’re spending a bit on large lattes (and a small sliver of carrot cake) but look, you’re getting a free one each week so it’s all worth it! And you can now say ‘the usual’ to the owner which feels quite nice.

A nice rain coat (that covers your bottom) – even if your baby has a summer birthday you still need to be prepared. I learnt the hard way that there’s no holding an umbrella when you’re pushing a pram. They have a raincover, you have a pack-a-mac or something lovely from Seasalt if you’ve got yourself organised.

A remote control with working batteries – boxsets are your friends. As is daytime TV. My favourite thing was/is to clog up our Sky Planner with episodes of Frasier. Great for feeding in front of and for watching as your baby falls asleep on you (and you drift off too).

Decent biscuits – none of your plain Rich Tea nonsense. You’ll probably be eating one handed for a while and there’s no easier and more filling snack/breakfast/lunch/dinner. Just make sure there are some wholesome oats (and chocolate chips) in there.

A corkscrew – or even better, buy screw top wine that you can open with one hand (only kidding – you’ll need to pop the baby in the bouncer for this one ;-)).